Bird By Bird With Annie: A Portrait Of Anne Lamott

Every purchase you make through these Amazon links supports DVD Verdict's reviewing efforts. Thank you!

All Rise...

Judge Dan Mancini may not believe in crappy first drafts, but he's good at producing them.

The Charge

"The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a
workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that
needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this
longing, which is one reason they write so very little."—Anne Lamott,
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

The Case

San Francisco-based writer Anne Lamott has been a darling of the Christian
left since the 2000 publication of Traveling Mercies: Thoughts on Faith.
The book is a conversion memoir notable for its honesty, transparency, authentic
drama, and Lamott's self-deprecating humor. A far-left intellectual with a deep
distrust of organized religion (especially Christianity), Lamott was drawn
kicking and screaming to God by way of the travails of alcoholism and single
motherhood. In Traveling Mercies, she demonstrates a unique ability to
lay bare her soul—even its ugliest parts—without ever coming off as
narcissistic or solipsistic. When Lamott speaks about writing, she often speaks
of the importance of truth. Her work is characterized by an unflinching, closely
observed, emotionally powerful, and often quite funny drive to tell it like it
is.

To label Lamott a Christian writer would be reductive, though (at least if
you're using the term in its marketing sense). In addition to her three memoirs
on faith (2005's Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith and 2007's Grace
(Eventually): Thoughts on Faith are the two follow-ups to Traveling
Mercies), she's written a half-dozen novels since her 1980 debut, Hard
Laughter, a book on writing (Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing
and Life), and a magnificently raw and honest book on parenting
(Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year). All of her
books—fiction and non-fiction—are imbued with Lamott's keen eye,
humor, and deep sense of compassion for the human beings with whom she interacts
(whether friends and neighbors or products of her imagination).

In Bird by Bird with Annie: A Portrait of Anne Lamott, director
Freida Lee Mock (Maya Lin: A Strong Clear
Vision) caught up with Lamott a decade ago, when she had published five
novels, two non-fiction books, and was hard at work on Traveling Mercies.
While sections of the movie touch on Lamott's faith, the piece is much more
about Lamott as a writer, lecturer, and teacher of writing. It includes long
excerpts from Lamott's signature lecture on writing, scenes of her teaching a
writing workshop and performing a reading at a bookstore, and a fascinating and
funny duel Q & A she did with her close (and unlikely) friend,
Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. These scenes of Lamott carrying out her
professional duties are balanced with interviews in which Lamott muses on
writing, faith, motherhood, and life in general. Luckily for us (and for Mock)
Lamott's speaking style is as warm, funny, candid, moving, and thoroughly
engaging as her prose style. Bird by Bird with Annie packs a lot of
laughs, practical instruction on writing, and unvarnished humanity into its 54
minutes.

Docurama's DVD release presents Mock's film in its original full-frame
aspect ratio. The image is gritty with an attractive patina of coarse film
grain. Colors are accurate. Detail is decent, though not exceptional. It's a
solid transfer of a limited source more concerned with naturalism than
presenting a glossy image. The best that can be said about the Dolby stereo
audio is that it is pleasantly unobtrusive in the sense that it doesn't bother
one with hiss or crackle.

Extras include a full 34-minute version of Lamott's lecture delivered at the
Sun Valley Writers' Conference, excerpts of which appear in the main feature,
and a text-based biography of Mock.

For fans of Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird with Annie: A Portrait of Anne
Lamott is essential viewing. Everyone else should grab one of her books
instead (Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life is a great
place to start).

The Verdict

Not guilty.

Give us your feedback!

Did we give Bird By Bird With Annie: A Portrait Of Anne Lamott a fair trial? yes / no

What's "fair"? Whether positive or negative, our reviews should be unbiased, informative, and critique the material on its own merits.